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The pundits are trying to recalibrate the Angels’ chances in the American League West. The websites that hold everyone but themselves to a standard of behavioral perfection are doing their usual end-zone dance.

Major League Baseball wants faster games. Fine. Call more strikes. But Major League Baseball also wants a smaller strike zone and, thus, more offense. Fine. Cut off one 30-second commercial per inning.

He could have said it as he scraped together a pre-game dinner in the media room at Staples Center. Or maybe we were jammed into a lunch booth at Trani’s restaurant in Long Beach. It could have been while waiting for the valet to find his car at one of his favorite Chinese restaurants in the Valley right around closing time.

SAN DIEGO >> Three days before the San Diego Chargers unleashed a lightning bolt felt throughout the NFL about their future stadium plans, Chargers vice president Mark Fabiani delivered a cryptic heads up to the task force in charge of keeping them in San Diego.

Ranking top 10 sports events March 9-15 you won’t want to miss NO. 1: COLLEGE BASKETBALL: NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT SELECTION SHOW: Details/TV: Sunday, 3 p.m., Ch. 2: This could be the start of something perfect, even if perfection is a matter of interpretation.

Funny thing about social media, it can actually be used as a motivational tool. Abner Mares of Hawaiian Gardens was riding a wonderful wave of success. He won titles in three weight classes, then in defense of his featherweight title he was knocked out in the

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> He grew up on High Street, Aurora, Ill., USA. Actually he grew up above it. Dave Kleckner and his three brothers and four sisters lived over the pharmacy that their dad William owned, in Aurora, Ill.

There were times last year when Galaxy coach Bruce Arena appeared ready to swap his career as one of the most successful coaches American soccer has ever seen for a role as a full-time grandfather. On more than one occasion, a relaxed Arena almost literally proudly bounced his 2-year-old grandson Wade on his knee while fielding media questions at postgame press conferences.

LAS VEGAS >> When the 68 chairs are filled on Sunday and UCLA is left standing, it will not be an injustice. The Bruins had five months to prove they were something more than 20-13. They had a game at Arizona State on Feb.

Of the 18 Ducks’ skaters who watched the Kings waltz through Game 7 last May, only 10 remain. “I told you at the time that I didn’t like a lot of things about our team,” said Ducks general manager Bob Murray.

If it’s March, it’s time to turn your attention to the prestigious March Meet at Auto Club Famoso Drag Strip, north of Bakersfield. More than 500 competitors are scheduled to compete this weekend down the famous quarter-mile now in its 51st season.

The way our minds work is we come to think things that happen in our town, at our job or to our team are unique. You know you cannot count the times you have said, or heard someone say, “This only happens in (fill in the blank with Manhattan Beach, San Pedro or wherever).

Mark.Whicker@langnews.com The hockey gods apparently took the night off. The Kings were presented with a triple dessert at Staples Center Thursday night. They got Montreal coming off a Wednesday night loss at Anaheim.

Heavenly shades of night are falling, it’s twilight time ... The drama is running low in the NBA, about to go into its annual eclipse, blotted out by the NCAA Tournament. As if making it official, Charles Barkley bade a warm farewell to the NBA in San Antonio from Cleveland’s 125-122 barn-burning victory, noting he’s leaving “my TNT family” to join “my CBS family” for a month to cover March Madness.

When Major League Soccer all but confirmed this week that Minneapolis will become home to the next expansion team, the even bigger news offered almost as an afterthought was that officials will study this year growing to more than 24 clubs.

By the time 4:30 in the morning rolls around, LA Live morphs into LA Lifeless. Travis Rodgers now has visual confirmation. “There’s not a soul around — except maybe some guy is cleaning, buffing, scooping,” the new KSPN-AM (710) early morning weekday drive co-host admitted about the otherwise neon-lit, fan-flash favorite gathering area across the street from Staples Center.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. >> We should have known. It was, after all, March 19. Also known as UCLA Miracle Network Day. Twenty years ago, Tyus Edney took his 75-foot ride into the history of this NCAA Tournament, on a darkening afternoon in Boise, Idaho.

In 2001, Kurt Busch made his debut at Auto Club Speedway, driving a Ford for Jack Roush and finishing 13th. Two years later, still driving for Roush, Busch took the checkered flag. He’ll be back at the two-mile superspeedway March 22 for the Auto Club 400 after being reinstated by NASCAR on Wednesday.

Mark.Whicker@langnews.com Jake Muzzin is a witness. He played junior hockey in Sault Ste. Marie with Jordan Nolan, whose hands are generally known for rearranging faces. But Nolan scored 23 goals in 2009-10, and Muzzin saw them all.

Jerry Keel dispensed with the suspense. On Feb. 21, he pitched six innings and gave up three runs for CSUN, against Seattle. Nothing new about that. Except he won. Last year Keel didn’t get his first win until July 25.

Verne Lundquist, the minimalist maestro of play-by-play, could have run out of words by the time Thursday night staggered into Friday morning. He had finished captioning back-to-back-to-back-to-back second-round games of the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament from Louisville, Ky.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. >> Thomas Welsh began his collegiate career with 14 points against Montana State. There were no fears at UCLA that he would be one and done. Welsh might be done growing, finally, at 7 feet.

The 2015 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, from A to Z: A is for Albany, which won the America East final on a fling by Peter Hooley. He went home to Australia to be with mother Sue, who was fighting colon cancer.

Mark.Whicker@langnews.com EL SEGUNDO >> In time we will fully assess the damage, the draft picks the Lakers lost, the unqualified players rushed into the breach, all the unintended consequences of the contract Steve Nash signed, but couldn’t honor, on July 4, 2012.

PHOENIX >> Sometime Tuesday night, one of the primary hurdles standing in the way of the Oakland Raiders’ long-term future in the Bay Area will finally be cleared. But in the high-stakes game of building fancy professional football stadiums, the significant milestone might not be enough to save the Raiders in Oakland.

Many find if difficult to follow NASCAR, and other stock car racing, due to the vocabulary of the sport. The following is an A-B-C primer from Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Fontana’s Auto Club Speedway: A – Attendance.

@LouBrewsterSpts on Twitter The list of race tracks — big, small, short and long — that have failed in Southern California is a rather long one. In addition to Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside International Raceway, which hosted NASCAR and IndyCar races in their heyday, the list includes such legendary venues as Ascot Park, El Cajon Raceway, Mesa Marin (Bakersfield), Carlsbad, Route 66 Raceway (Victorville), L.

If you are going to be in the greater Los Angeles area May 16, you’d be smart to attend the fight between middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and challenger Willie Monroe Jr. at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood (on HBO).

PHOENIX >> The lush, manicured landscape and desert oasis ambiance of the luxurious Arizona hotel the National Football League has gathered at this week seems like a curious place to stage a game of demolition derby.

Four of the six games in Louisville Thursday and Saturday did not involve Kentucky. Seven of the eight teams weren’t the Wildcats. They were tolerated, like movie trailers that go on a little too long.

There was the day when Norman Powell was too fast for his own good. Without it, UCLA probably wouldn’t be one of the 16 teams left standing in the NCAA tournament. Powell’s mom Sharon is a longtime track and field coach and official in San Diego.

PHOENIX — On the same day more than 15,000 signed petitions were delivered to Carson’s city hall in support of an NFL stadium and fancy renditions of an extravagant stadium in Inglewood were revealed, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stood at a podium in Phoenix and said his league is not focused on Los Angeles for the 2016 season.

For months, there had been an undercurrent that Irwindale Speedway was going to close and there would be no racing in 2015. Nothing official, just a rumor that had swept the garage area. But it appears as though the state-of-the-art venue will join Speedway 605, Irwindale Raceway, San Gabriel Valley Dragstrip, Go-Kart Raceway and San Gabriel Valley Dragstrip in the history book.

HOUSTON >> The glass slipper never quite fit UCLA anyway, right? The Bruins’ dance to the Sweet 16 was built mostly on accidental good fortune than March magic. They caught a break getting into the tournament to begin with.

John Moore has coached basketball at Westmont College for 22 years. On Tuesday, he was on the bench when Westmont lost the NAIA championship to Dalton (Ga.) State. On Thursday he was teaching his kinesiology class.

Mark.Whicker@langnews.com His nickname is the only Showy thing about Wisconsin basketball. But for a heartbeat, Zak Showalter was stricken with the realization he might be shown — and shown up — on every website, worldwide.

There was less than two minutes left in what was already an unexpectedly extended season for UCLA’s basketball season Friday night in Houston when the CBS cameras fixed on Chris Roberts. “He’s something else,” remarked Jim Nantz, as Roberts stayed focused on listening to partner Tracy Murray as they described to the KLAC radio audience what remained of the Bruins’ 12-point loss to Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.

And the Eastern Conference team most likely to get its head handed to it by the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final is … It’s still hard to say, despite a good deal of chatter from points East about how the junior varsity has gained ground on the varsity, and perhaps (gasp!) even passed it by this season.

And Laker fans thought this season had no more suspense! Can you imagine anything more exciting than seeing young Jordan Clarkson get that rebound, draw a foul and win that overtime game in Minnesota? Actually, I can.

All you have to do is watch Julian Ramirez fight just once, and it’s obvious the 22-year-old from Los Angeles is a real fighter. He loves being in the ring. That’s why he’s not thrilled that he hasn’t fought since November, when he stopped Pedro Melo after four rounds at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio.

HOUSTON >> If there is such a thing as down time for the consensus best player in college basketball, who just happens to play for a storied program making another bold bold run in the NCAA Tournament, Jahlil Okafor spends it doing the same thing most other 19-year-old sports heads do.